Sheet feeding apparatus



Feb. 20, 1968 1 JfscHuLzE ETAL 3,369,804

SHEET FEEDING APPARATUS Filed Nov. 26, 1965 2 sheets-sheet 1 Feb-20,1968 J. J. scHULzE. ETAL l 3,369,804

SHEET FEEDING APPARATUS Filed Nov. 26, 1965 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Unit@ -.1 Y

ABSTRACT F THE DISCLOSURE A tray supports a stack of sheets to be fedone by one by drive rollers. A pair of conjointly movable edge guidesengage the sides of the stack. A pair of separator arms pivot freelyabove the tray on supports movable with and spaced to the side of theedge guides, each arm including a forwardly extending segment spaced tothe side of the stack, an inwardly veering segment resting on the frontcorner of the stack and a downwardly extending segment abutting thefront of the stack. An eccentric bail above the tray is normally held ina neutral position by a resilient latch and is manually movable to anoperating position to engage upwardly and rearwardly extending segmentsof the arms to lift the arms from the stack. The latch frictionallyholds the bail and arms in the raised position.

The present invention relates to sheet feeding apparatus, and moreparticularly to improved sheet separating apparatus for separatingindividual sheets serially fed from a stack of sheets.

Devices for automatically feeding single sheets from a stack receivingtray into various types of copying apparatus are known. Such sheetfeeding Vdevices include sheet driving means, such as a lpair ofrollers, mounted on an intermittently driven shaft and resting on thetop sheet of the stack for feeding the top sheet of the stack in a givendirection.

Since the top sheet may tend to adhere to one or more lower sheets ofthe stack, sheet feeding devices frequently include means for separatingthe top sheet from the stack as it is fed so that only a single sheet isfed into the machine. Known sheet separating apparatus includes anabutment for the leading edge of the stack and also an abutment engagingthe upper surface of the top sheet adjacent the leading edge. Thus whenthe top sheet is fed it is forced to flex away from the lower sheetsuntil it snaps clear of the abutments. Known devices also includeapparatus for disengaging the sheet feeding means in order to clear thestack when it is desired to change vor add sheets.

Known sheet separating devices are unsatisfactory for several reasons.Often the apparatus including the sheet engaging abutments isinconveniently located with respect to the stack receiving tray, wherebyinstallation, adjustment and repair are hindered. Furthermore,unnecessarily complex arrangements are used for mounting and positioningthe sheet separating devices. In addition, the apparatus knownheretofore for disengaging the sheet separating means is complicated andinconveniently located in the machine.

Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to provide improved sheetfeeding apparatus including novel means for separating individual sheetscharacterized by being simple and compact in construction and capable ofeasily being installed and adjusted and capable .of economically beingmanufactured.

It is another object to provide improved sheet separating apparatuscapable of automatically being adjusted for sheets of various widths.

It is yet another object of the present invention to provide sheetfeeding apparatus including a simple and States Patent 0 positivearrangement for disengaging the sheet separating apparatus to clear thestack when desired.

In accordance with these and many other objects, sheet feeding apparatusembodying the present invention may comprise a sheet supporting trayadapted to receive a stack of sheets to be fed one at a time from thestack in a given direction. A pair of side rails are mounted* on thetray for simultaneous conjoint movement to accommodate sheets of variouswidths and sheet driving means such as shaft driven rollers rest on thetop sheet and, when rotated, propel the top sheet away from the stack.

In order to free the top sheet from the remaining sheets in the stack,the apparatus includes sheet separating means comprising a pair ofpivotally mounted sheet separating arms, one mounted at each side of thestack of sheets. Each arm is mounted' on a support extending upwardlyfrom the tray, and thus pivots about a point above the tray. Each armincludes a portion extending forwardly from the support, and theseportions are provided with segments normally resting upon the top sheetof the stack, one at each leading corner. The arms also include portionsextending from the sheet engaging segments downwardly along the frontend of the stack.

The side rails are mounted on a pair of rack elements so that they movesimultaneously and conjointly 4on the tray to receive stacks of sheetsof different sizes. In order that the sheet separating arms always arein the proper position for stacks of various widths, the supports .onwhich the arms are mounted are also xed to the rack elements, and thusare automatically moved to the proper position when the side rails areadjusted. The arms do not obstruct the side rails or the stack ofsheets, since they are mounted on their own supports and not on the siderails.

In order to `disengage the sheet engaging segments of the sheetseparating arms from the stack when it is desired to add or changesheets, an eccentric operator or bail is mounted above the stack andincludes a handle whereby it may be manually rotated. The sheetseparating arms include portions extending upwardly from the supports,and when the eccentric operator is rotated, it engages these upwardlyextending portions and pivots the sheet separating arms whereby thesheet engaging segments are lifted away from the stack of sheets. Inaddition, a latching mechanism is provided for releasably holding theeccentric operator in an inactive position spaced from the sheetseparating arms.

Many other objects and advantages of the present invention will becomeapparent from considering the following detailed description inconjunction with the drawings in which: j

FIG. 1 is a top elevational view of sheet feeding apparatus embodyingthe present invention;

FIG. 2 is a sectional View taken along the line 2--2 of FIG. lillustrating the sheet feeding apparatus of FIG. l and also illustratingsheet driving means and a stack of sheets to be fed;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged partial elevational view, partly in section, of aportion of the apparatus of FIG. l; and

FIG. 4 is an enlarged partial view of another portion of the apparatusof FIG. l.

j Having reference now to the drawings and initially to FIG. l, there isillustrated sheet fee-ding apparatus embodying the features of thepresent invention and designated as llt?. The sheet feeding apparatus 10includes a uniplanar tray 12 adapted to receive a stack 14 (FIGS. 2 and3) of sheets to be fed one by one from the tray into a utilizationdevice, which may be a reproducing or copying machine (not shown).Driving means including one or more rollers 16 mounted upon anintermittently rotated shaft 18 (FIG. 2) serve to propel the `sheetsfrom the stack B J4 toward the utilization devicei.e., to the right asviewed in FIG. 2.

In order to separate individual sheets from the stack as they are fed,the apparatus 1t) includes sheet separating means generally designatedas 2t). The sheet separating means includes a pair of sheet separatingarms 22 and 24 located above the tray 12 and positioned one at eitherside of the stack 14. Additionally, means including an eccentricoperator 26 are provided for disengaging the sheet separating means inorder to free the stack 134 when it is `desired to add or change sheets.

Referring now to the construction of the tray t2, it comprises a rigidhorizontally oriented member supported by means of supporting plates 28connected to the sides of the tray 12, one of which is illustrated inFIG. 4. When the sheet feeding apparatus lil is used in conjunction witha duplicating or copying machine, the supporting structure 28 maycomprise a portion of the framework or casing of the duplicating orcopying machine, as lwill be understood by those skilled in the art. Inorder that the tray 12 may accommodate sheets having a length greaterthan that of the tray, an extendable shelf 30 ist slidablymountedbeneath the tray 12 by means of suitable fastening structure 32(FIG. 2).

In order properly to position and to center the sheets of the stack 14on the tray 12, a pair of side rails or edge guides 34 and 36 arecarried upon the tray 12. These side rails include vertically disposedportions Bda and 36a adapted to engage the two sides of the stack 1d.Horizontally disposed portions 34h and 36h rest upon the surface of thetray 12, and each has a friction pad Si) disposed near its forward end.

In order that the side rails 34 and 36 move simultaneously andconjointly-i-e., together and apart at the same time-the horizontallydisposed portions 341) and ab are secured to a pair of rack elements 52and 54 which are slidably held in place in grooves running transverselyacross the tray 12 by means of fasteners 56 and springs 5S (FIG. 2). Thetwo rack elements y52 and 54 are constrained to move together by meansof a pinion 69 simultaneously engaging the teeth of both rack elementsas shown in dotted lines in FIG. l. In order independently to adjust theside rails 34 and 36, the pinion may be depressed by means of a button62 against a spring 64 whereby the rack elements are freed forindependent movement. Normally, however, the rack elements areconstrained to move together and the side rails may be automaticallyadjusted to accommodate sheets of any width.

In accordance with a feature of the invention, the sheet separating arms22 and 24 are pivotally mounted on a pair of supports 66 and 68including vertically disposed portions 66a and 68a extending upwardlyfrom the tray 12. In addition, horizontal portions 66h and 681) extendbeneath the horizontal portions 34h and 36h of the side rails 34 and 36,and are fastened to the rack elements 52 and 54. Thus, it can be seenthat when the rack elements 52 and S4 are simultaneously and conjointlymoved in order to adjust the side rails for sheets of various widths,the sheet separating arms 22 and 24 are likewise automatically adjusted.

In addition, the arms are pivotally mounted on the supports 66 and 68 bymeans of fasteners 72 and are not directly fastened to the side rails.Thus, the fasteners 72 do not obstruct or interrupt the smooth guidingsurface of the side rails 34 and 36, or interfere in any way with thefeeding of sheets from the stack 14.

The sheet separating arms 22 and 24 are economically 4formed from singlesheets of material, such as metal, by means of a few very simplestamping and bending operations. The arms include forwardly extendingportions 22a and 24a serving to separate the sheets as they are fed, aswell as upwardly and rearwardly extending portions 22h and 2411 whichaid in disengaging the sheet separating apparatus, as explainedhereinafter. Conveniently, the

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l portions 22a, 24a, 22b and 24h of the arms are disposed to the sidesof the stack 14 and outside of the side rails 34 and 36. Thus, the arms22 and 2d, although easily accessible above the tray l2, do not obstructthe stack le or the side rails.

Near the forward ends of the arms 22 and 24 are in- Wardly veeringsegments 22C and-24c which extend over the top surface of the top sheet,one at each leading corner, and rest upon the top sheet. Downwardlyextending portions 22d and 24d form abutments for the front of the stackof sheets. The portions 22d and 24d are slightly curved in order thatthey present a similar coniiguration to the front of the stackregardless of the angular position of the arms 22 and 2d.

When a sheet is fed by means of the rollers I6 from the top of the stacki4, the segments 22e and 2de and the portions 22d and 24d cause the topsheet initially to ilex away from the lower sheets. When the top sheetflexes suliciently, it snaps over the arms and is fed away from thestack lli' over the segments 22C and 2de.

Whenever it is desired to add or change sheets of the stack i4, it isnecessary to disengage the sheet separating arms 22 and 24 from thestack. This is accomplished in accordance with the present invention bymeans of the eccentric operator 26 which is mounted above the stack ltdand approximately over the supports S2 and S4, extend ing transverselyacross the tray 12. The operator 26 comprises a shaft or bail mountedfor rotation in a spaced pair of mounting brackets 74 and 75 located atthe sides of the tray 12. The operator 26 includes an eccentric portion26a normally spaced from the arms 22 and 24, as illustrated in thedrawings. One end of the operator includes a portion 26!) adapted to beconveniently accessible to the user and provided with a handle 76. Whenthe handle 76 is depressed, the eccentric portion 26a is moved intoengagement with the upwardly and rearwardly extending portions 221) andZlib of the arms 22 and 24, whereby the arms are rotated in acounterclockwise direction as viewed in FIG. 2 and whereby the segments22C and 24e are lifted away from the stack i4.

In order releaseably to hold the operator 26 in a neutral positionspaced from the arms 22 and 2li, a latching mechanism generallydesignated as 78 is provided. The latching mechanism 78 includes a knob8G fixed to the end of the operator 26 opposite the handle 76. Aresilient member S2 is held in tension between the lknob 80, a roller84, and a screw 86, all of which are positioned irnmediately adjacentone of the mounting brackets 74 (FIG. 4), The knob 8h is provided with aflat Sila engaged by the resilient member 32 in the illustrated neutralposition of the operator 26. The force exerted by the resilient member82 against the fiat Sila of the knob St) is effective to hold theoperator 26 in a neutral position. However, when the operator 26 isrotated from the neu- Atral position, the latching mechanism 78 does notsignificantly oppose the manual rotation of the operator Z6 and does noturge the operator back to the neutral position. Rather, the frictioninduced by the member S2 holds the operator 26 in any position. Thus,once the eccentric operator 26 has been moved to the position in whichit disengages the sheet separating arms 22 and 24 from the stack 14, theuser of the apparatus may use two hands for manipulating the stack i4,since he is not required to maintain pressure on the handle 76.

Thus is can be seen that in accordance with the present invention a verysimple arrangement is provided for separating the individual sheets andadditionally for manipulating the separating means to clear the stack14. The arms 22 and 24 are of economical unitary construction, and nostructure other than the bail 26 is needed to disengage the arms.Furthermore the arms and the bail 26 are conveniently accessible abovethe tray, and can thus easily be installed on new or on previouslyconstructed machines.

Although the present invention has been described with reference to asingle embodiment thereof, it should be understood that numerous othermodifications and embodiments can be devised by those skilled in the artthat will fall within the spirit and scope of the principles of thepresent invention.

What is claimed and desired to be secured by Letters Patent of theUnited States is:

1. Apparatus for feeding individual sheets from a stack by movement in agiven direction, said apparatus comprising:

a sheet supporting tray adapted to receive a stack of sheets;

ya pair of sheet edge guides mounted for lateral movement of said tray;

a guide moving assembly mounted on said tray and connected to said edgequides for effecting simultaneous and conjoint opposed lateral movementof said edge guides into engagement with the sides of a stack of sheetsplaced on said tray;

a pair of support members extending upwardly from said tray and mountedon said guide moving assembly for simultaneous movement with said edgeguides, each support member being laterally spaced to the outside of oneof said edge guides;

a pair of separator arms each mounted for pivotal movement about a pivotpoint on one of said support members and each including a first segmentextending forwardly frorn the pivot point alongside of and spaced to theside of the stack of sheets;

each separator arm including a second, inwardly veering segmentextending toward and normally resting lupon the leading corner of theuppermost sheet of the stack, and a third downwardly extending segmentforming an abutment for the front of the stack of sheets;

each separator arm also including a fourth segment extending upwardlyand rearwardly from said pivot point to a region above the stack ofsheets;

and manually operable means disposed above said stack of sheets andengageable with said fourth segments of said separator arms for pivotingsaid arms to lift said third segments of said arms from said stack ofsheets.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, a pair of mounting brackets on oppositesides of said tray, said manually operable means `comprising an operatormember disposed above the stack of sheets Iand mounted in said mountingbrackets for rotation between a neutral position and an operatingposition, said operator member having an eccentric portion spaced fromthe fourth segments of said separator arms in said neutral position andengaging said fourth segments to lift said separator arms in saidoperating position, latch means on said operator member having adjacentflat and curved surfaces, and resilient means engaging said flat surfacein the neutral position of said operator member to releasably latch saidoperator member in the neutral position, said resilient meansfrictional- 1y engaging said curved surface in the operating position ofsaid `operator member with sufficient force to hold said separator armsin the raised position.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,893,729 6/ 1959 Perzentka271-21 3,239,212 3/1966 Springer 271-19 3,278,181 10/1966 Fengler271-22. 3,285,601 11/1966 Zeuthen 271--17 RICHARD E. AEGERTER, PrimaryExaminer.

